How Technology is Driving the Future of Fitness

It seems plausible that we’ll turn to tech solutions to perform the exercise for us given how smart appliances, cameras, phones, and even social robots are making it into our high-tech world. But the body still needs to move, no matter how much technology makes its way into fitness. What will the fitness technology do, if it isn’t going to exercise for us?

Fit equals cheaper health insurance

The number of wearable fitness trackers and tracking apps will continue to increase but might take on a different role in health. These are useful for tracking data, but until health insurance companies start giving you a discount based on how active you are on a daily basis, the data is irrelevant. Some organizations are starting to give employees extra bonuses, credits, or money toward health insurance premiums if the employee achieves a minimal amount of activity per quarter. For instance, the insurance provider UnitedHealthcare has teamed up with the technology company Qualcomm to develop trackers.

Smart fabrics will get smarter

Over the next decade, smart fabrics will include sensing capabilities that allow users to augment the monitoring and performance of their activity. While such fabrics exist today and are making their way into commercialized products, the cost and durability will only continue to improve and therefore these will be driven into the apparel and accessory market globally.

In-home advancements

Our fast-paced lives will drive in-home fitness technology, including the ability to stream workouts from our home. Daily Burn does this with Daily 365. You can be in Chicago and do a live class with an instructor in Manhattan. That type of in-home technology will be big. The last five years, we had boutique studios like Cross Fit, Orangetheory, and SoulCycle really infringe on traditional health club space.